The present invention relates generally to vehicle seats and more particularly to vehicle seats of the type utilized in the rear seating positions of utility vehicles having provisions for folding down the seats to form a load floor in the vehicle.
It is well known in the vehicle seating arts to provide seats which are foldable from a position in which the seat back is in its normal elevated substantially vertical seating position to a position in which the front face of the seat back engages the upper surface of the seat cushion to define a loading surface on the rear surface of the seat back. Since the seat cushion generally remains fixed on an elevated base or pedestal under which is positioned appropriate components for supporting or moving the vehicle seat, this arrangement defines a load floor having a higher elevation than is desirable in some applications.
It is also known to provide linkage with the seat base position below a seat cushion to vary its height. Bilancia, U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,312 is exemplary of such linkage arrangements showing the use of parallel link members for positioning the height of the vehicle seat cushion. Such linkages generally have been employed, however, for making relatively minor variations in the height of the seats and are arranged directly below the frame of the seat cushion in a fashion that limits the downward movement of the seat. They suffer from the further disadvantage that they undesirably expose pivoting parallel links to view an interference from within the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
Another disadvantage lies in the provision in seats of this type which employ parallel link members for adjusting the height in that provisions for latching the seat into a chosen height position are also generally provided beneath the seat frame for latching the seat into a chosen height position are also generally provided beneath the seat frame in a manner limiting its downward travel.
Another approach to the design of folding seats which can be manipulated to a stowed position defining a load floor in a vehicle is the type in which the front edge of a seat cushion is hinged to provide for rotating the seat cushion vertically upward, permitting the folding down of the seat back into the space normally occupied by the seat cushion. While this approach provides a lower load floor, it suffers from the disadvantage of reducing loading space length by the thickness of the seat cushion pivoted into the upright position.